I’ve often complained here about the overly cozy relationship between Israeli journalists and their sources in the intelligence/security apparatus. Tonight, we’ll hear from a journalist who’s especially guilty of practicing such stenography.

Haaretz’s Amos Harel, wrote a paean to the Shin Bet’s efforts to use “big data” to ferret out Palestinian would-be terrorists before they launch terror attacks. According to his claim (again regurgitated from the mouth of the intelligence services), these Palestinians are so mesmerized by becoming shahids and so passionate in their mission that they simply must tell the world their plans. By analyzing Facebook posts by Palestinians, the Shin Bet, like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, “always gets their man:”

Israel’s security services have used the internet to thwart hundreds of potential terror attacks in less than a year, with the Shin Bet security service and Military Intelligence stopping 2,200 Palestinians at various stages of planning and preparing for attacks, mostly stabbings and car-rammings.

The Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet arrested more than 400 of these would-be perpetrators, and some were put on trial. The names of a similar number were passed on to the Palestinian Authority, which arrested them and warned them against planning attacks on Israel. The rest received warning conversations from the Shin Bet and IDF, or sometimes their parents did.

There are numerous claims that prove problematic here: first, there is no proof offered that the Shin Bet claims are accurate. Second, do we really believe that a Shin Bet agent who truly feared a Palestinian Facebook user was planning a terror attack would be satisfied with a “warning conversation” with the suspect’s parents to take their child better in hand? Third, note that the Shin Bet arrested 400, but only some were put on trial. What’s unspoken here is that many of the 400 remain imprisoned, held without charges or trial. Even those who are charged are held under ludicrous charges.

Palestinian poet arrested and imprisoned for two years for a poem published on Facebook

One of these is Dareen Tatour. She was arrested for publishing a poem on Facebook in which she encouraged Palestinian resistance to Occupation. She did not call for terror attacks. She did not glorify violence. She wrote a poem. It praised resistance. Yet any nationalist statement from Palestinians is viewed by the security apparatus as “incitement.” In the eyes of Israeli spooks, “incitement” is the same as terrorism since it allegedly causes terrorism (again no proof forthcoming on that claim). Israel has made poetry a crime when practiced by Palestinians.

In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds and breathed my sorrows
And carried the soul in my palm
For an Arab Palestine.

I will not succumb to the “peaceful solution,”
Never lower my flags
Until I evict them from my land.
I cast them aside for a coming time.

Resist, my people, resist them.
Resist the settler’s robbery
And follow the caravan of martyrs.
Shred the disgraceful constitution
Which imposed degradation and humiliation
And deterred us from restoring justice.

They burned blameless children;
As for Hadil, the sniper shot her in public,
Killed her in broad daylight.

Resist, my people, resist them.
Resist the colonialist’s onslaught.
Pay no mind to his agents among us
Who chain us with the peaceful illusion.
Do not fear doubtful tongues;
The truth in your heart is stronger,
As long as you resist in a land
That has lived through raids and victory.

So Ali called from his grave:
Resist, my rebellious people.
Write me as prose on the agarwood;
My remains have you as a response.

Resist, my people, resist them.

This poem is no different from equally powerful, rage-filled poems by Chaim Nachman-Bialik, Israel’s national poet, decrying the Kiev pogrom of 1903. It is no different from a score of other Israeli poems on similar subjects by Uri Tzvi Greenberg, Natan Alterman and many others.

Tatour is certainly one of those the secret police include in this count. Yet her poem has nothing to do with terrorism. So if Dareen Tatour is a Shin Bet ‘terrorist,’ how many other Palestinians held were arrested under similarly flimsy claims? I’ve venture to say a huge proportion of these 400 (if that number itself is even trustworthy).

The title of this blog post refers to the Shin Bet’s purported exploitation of Big Data to expose Palestinian terror plots. I prefer to see them as Little David with their social media slingshot taking aim Big Brother.

Harel has no interest in the issue any real journalist in a democratic society would ponder: free speech. What business has the security apparatus of arresting anyone for publishing political speech on Facebook? What responsibility does Facebook have to protect its users targeted in this fashion? None, apparently since the justice minister is proposing a law which would force it to comply with all demands from the authorities to censor material they deem incitement, or whatever phrase they deem appropriate. In response, Facebook and Twitter have scurried under the nearest chair like frightened rabbits.

If this doesn’t concern you then think how you’d feel if the GOP passed a law demanding that Twitter, Facebook and all social media platforms take down any posts the NSA and FBI deem dangerous or disturbing or encouraging terrorism. You’d fight like hell against that. So what’s different between here and there aside from those big, bad Arab terrorists threatening to destroy Israel? If you credit that last phrase with any truth, just think about the terror threat Donald Trump and his minions are ginning up to justify their own draconian policies: Islamist terrorists, Mexican rapists at our doors. Just how far do you really think we are from Israel? And how fast do you think we can get there? Pretty fast if the results of the last election are any indication.

Here are more dubious claims by Harel which boast of Big Brother’s success in intimidating Palestinians into acquiescence:

So far the move has significantly reduced the number of attacks. The Palestinian young people apparently feel that Israeli Big Brother is keeping an eye on them, and they’re also being deterred based on the fear that their families will be punished for their actions.

Harel’s claim of a decrease in attacks is refuted by Shabak statistics themselves (you don’t expect an Israeli journalist to do research to document a source’s claims, do you?). These are the monthly number of attacks over the past several months:

November – 95.
December – 98.
January – 100.
February – 102.
March – 119.

The numbers had been declining until November, after which they rose again. What Harel may’ve meant is that the number of “successful” attacks in which there are injuries or death has declined. But the raw number has, if anything increased. Which should be a worrying sign if you were a good journalist doing real reporting.

This is an example of what I call a “cause and effect fallacy:” the alleged reduction of attacks is attributed to the social media assault on free speech without any proof offered that there is a relation between cause and effect. Further, the number of Palestinian attacks, while declining, has by no means ended. There was one in Jerusalem this week in which a British Jewish woman was killed on the light rail line.

And another specious claim by Harel here:

…Gamil Tamimi. who stabbed to death the British student Hannah Bladon in Jerusalem on Friday [and other similar lone wolf terrorists] appear to have been motivated by media coverage of previous attacks…

Many of the stabbing and car-ramming assailants were from the fringes of Palestinian society who perhaps preferred “a martyr’s death” as a way out of their problems.

This plays into the totally unfounded claim that the international media is at fault for publicizing such attacks. It’s the media which glorifies these sad-sack human beings who have nothing going in their life except the chance for martyrdom (or so the Israeli narrative goes). The male assailants are unemployed, mentally ill, vagrants. The women mentally disturbed, in troubled marriages, etc. This tactic is the equivalent of blaming the rape victim for her victimization. Recall that the Israeli police first suckered the media into reporting that Mohammed Abu Khdeir was gay and murdered by his family in an honor killing. Later, they admitted he’d been burned alive by settler thugs seeking revenge.

This is a disgusting racist insult, so typical of Israeli discourse. Once again, Harel and his Shin Bet source cheapens and demeans the Palestinian life and struggle. It permits Israel to abscond from moral responsibility for its own crimes against Palestinians. It permits Israelis to soothe their consciences (such as they are) and absolve themselves of guilt. An absolution they don’t deserve.

This is a shameful exercise in pander-journalism: Harel writes an encomium to Nadav Argaman, the new Shin Bet chief, gets a pat on the head for being a good little poodle, then the next time there’s a big story the Shabak gives him the scoop. It’s the game so many Israeli journalists play. A nasty, seedy game that gives real journalism a bad name. Lest there be any doubt about Harel’s usefulness to the security apparatus, a well-informed Israeli source told me the Shin Bet is exceedingly proud of getting this story on the front page of Haaretz:

“For Shabak’s unofficial spokesman to make the main headline of this leftist paper is not a small thing; It doesn’t happen frequently.”

Excuse me while I’m ill. For a more skeptical version of this story read Maan.

@ Jimbo: Um, Jimbo, are you a literary critic? No? Didn’t think so. Do you understand the difference between poetry and a criminal act? No, didn’t think so. For you a poem is a recipe to produce a bomb. That’s because you haven’t a clue what literature is.

A peaceful solution can refer to a million things and 999,999,999 may be different than whatever image you’re confuring up. There is nothing in this poem that uses specific language of violence or armed resistance. None.

Oh & btw, I can find literally scores, if not hundreds of pictures of Israeli funerals for Zionist martyrs. So if Greenberg and Alterman and Bialik can write poems advocating armed resistance by Jews, then why can’t Tatour write a poem that doesn’t even go that far? Because you’re a racist & don’t permit your “enemy” the same rights & privileges you grant yourself?

Now it’s all clear to me. Thanks for clearing that up.

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April 19, 2017 2:32 PM

Ariel Shalom

Richard – you are being extremely lenient with the poet.
You might be able to stretch your way through literature and explain how she did not advocate violence but if the simply read it, she write about guns, not roses.

By using a quote from Osama Bin Laden’s speech praising the terrorists of 9/11 on the anniversary of that event “caravan of martyrs,” she very very clearly supports terrorism. More than that, this is a blatant call for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Israel, which is a war crime under international law: “For an Arab Palestine. I will not succumb to the “peaceful solution,”Never lower my flags Until I evict them from my land.”

Palestinians are not engaging in “resistance.” No amount of murders of Israeli civilians will make any difference, bring the Palestinians any gains. They are just murdering Jews. Like they have been doing since twenty years before Israel existed, before there was any “occupation,” regardless of any Israeli policies. Supporting the commission of war crimes IS a war crime.

@ Carmi Turchick: First, let’s separate the truth from lies. I’ve researched your claim about Bin Laden & not found any claim online to support it. So I consider it a lie. Unless you support it with credible evidence I will judge you to be circulating fake news. That could lead to your permanent banning.

Second, the issue of ethnic cleansing is a 2 way street. There are far, far more Israelis calling for ethnic cleansing of Palestinians than the other way around. That starts with David Ben Gurion himself. So when you denounce all of them (scores of examples published here in this blog) then I’ll denounce Palestinians when they do the same. You have several decades of denunciation in store. Let me know when you plan to do that.

Third, you’ve confused a literary conceit with a political platform, meaning you & your pals in the Shabak have no abilities for literary analysis. In other words, she’s a poet and not a guerilla leader. By your account, Bialik believed that the foundations of the earth would be rotted due to the murder of Jews during the Kishniev pogrom. Did he mean that literally? Doubtful. Not to mention the early Zionist nationalist poets who made nasty references to Arabs and justified all manner of bad treatment of them. Shall we consider them inciters & perhaps charge them with ethnic cleansing or worse? Hey, I’m game if you want to go that route…

Palestinians are not engaging in “resistance.”

By that yardstick, neither were Avraham Stern, Begin, Shamir or a myriad of others who murdered both Israeli Jews and Arabs in terror attacks going all the way back to the 1910s. So I presume you’re going to denounce their acts of terror & reject them as a form of national resistance against the British colonial mandate. I’ll be waiting…

You’re on hasbara watch. Read the comment rules if you intend to reply.

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June 28, 2017 1:33 PM

Yehuda

The fact is, that the stabbings and other attacks HAVE decreased to a trickle, in comparison to a year and a half ago when the whole thing started. While you are correct in stating that correlation is not proof of causation, any reasonable person (as well as professionals) would conclude that this technology and technique is a dominant factor. What else would it be? The Islamist Hamas incitement, for whom Palestinian youth’s lives are like fodder? The glorification of shahids in the official Palestinian media?
Since you are a liberal, and that these attacks resulted in far more Palestinian deaths than Israelis, I would think that you would be pleased with these methods, that have probably saved scores of Palestinian and Israeli lives.
But you reside in what Steve Pinker calls the mythical “Left Pole”, which like the North Pole from which every direction is south, every position which is not identical to yours is racist and fascist. In this mythical place, “free speech” in social media is defended but not saving lives.

@ Yehuda: You lot are like hasbara tag team wrestlers. Barbar is in the ring for a few rounds, then comes Jim. Then after a few more rounds comes Seamus Ignoramus. And then when you lot go away a new lot takes your place. It’s endless. All hasbara all the time, to paraphrase an old radio station promotional slogan. You’re all a bunch of shameful, shameless sods.

any reasonable person (as well as professionals) would conclude that this technology and technique is a dominant factor.

Correction: any hasbaroid or Shin Bet flack would draw such a conclusion. And perhaps lazy journos like Harel would. THe problem with you all is that you’re too lazy to even read the links in my post. Harel himself offers alternative explanations including the fact that internally Palestinians may be turning away from this tactic just as in the past they turned away from suicide bombings as a tactic.

Yet another problem you lot have is that you believe that once you solve this little problem & foil the lone wolf attacks you’ve done something. You’ve won some sort of victory. But you haven’t. Because the Palestinian will-to-resist is inexhaustible. They will devise a new tactic you haven’t conceived of. If that doesn’t work they’ll devise another and another. Till one day they devise the tactic that does turn the tide and they win.

You are a two-faced disgusting hypocrite. As you care not an iota for Palestinian youths or any other sort of Palestinian. You don’t care about them as much as you care about a mosquito buzzing around your ear. YOu’d just as soon smash it as you would let it continue to live.

Since you are a liberal, and that these attacks resulted in far more Palestinian deaths than Israelis, I would think that you would be pleased with these methods, that have probably saved scores of Palestinian and Israeli lives.

You think that “liberals” only care about saving lives? Have you ever heard of justice? Law? Rights? Apparently not. Do you think if given a chance between saving his own life and abandoning his cause, and advancing the cause of civil rights, Martin Luther King would’ve chosen his own life? No, some of us understand that lives aren’t ends in themselves. Lives must have a purpose and sometimes the purpose is more important than the life. Because the purpose will lead to life, liberty, freedom and justice for the greatest number.

And we are so impressive that you’ve dusted off your undergraduate psych courses and found some academic or other whose work you can bastardize & misattribute.

Some comments by people like you I can tolerate. But this one really rubbed me the wrong way. Do this again & you’ll be moderated.

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April 20, 2017 2:42 AM

Yehuda

For some reason I already appear to be moderated, my comments do not appear when posted.
The hypocrisy here, Richard, is that you do not appear to care about Israeli lives.
I must have pushed a hot button to evoke such an emotional response.

The problem with your “left” is that when you have determined that a certain group has been the victim of oppression, that they must now be protected by the “white man” at all cost, and this group can do no wrong. Any and all attempt to defend the Israelis action is thus a priori not valid.

“Because the purpose will lead to life, liberty, freedom and justice for the greatest number”.

In that scheme evidently by your calculation Jews don’t count. That form of utilitarianism would be an interesting discussion in and of itself.

YOu haven’t been moderated (till now) and your comments are published as soon as you publish them. You needed to refresh your page or clear your cache to see your comment.

But you are now moderated. That comment above is a lie and offensive & impermissible. I don’t answer to you nor have to satisfy your standards. The whole reason I write this blog is because I care about Israelis and Israel’s future. If I didn’t, I’d be blogging about food and world music instead. Now, the fact that you don’t understand this indicates your own prejudices & human limitations, not mine. You’ll have to deal with that on your own.

that they must now be protected by the “white man” at all cost

That’s not only offensive, but racist. Jews and even Zionists have shared precisely my concerns & criticism of the Zionist project for over a century. So calling me a “white man” rather than a Jew is beyond offensive. Another reason you’re now moderated.

this group can do no wrong.

Hasbamorons like you have made this claim at least a hudnred times here before. The truth, as I pointed out them, to them is that I am critical of both sides of the conflict. I’m just not critical enough of the one you hate. You’ve just made me repeat myself 101 times in explaining my views of both sides. Another thing I detest doing.

In that scheme evidently by your calculation Jews don’t count.

Not just a lie, but a stupid one at that. In this “scheme” (your words, not mine) Jews are human beings as are Palestinians. My concerns are for Israeli Jews, Diaspora Jews and Palestinians. There are far more human beings in that group than your narrow concern only for Israeli Jews. Hence my support for a resolution that will offer liberty, freedom and justice for all, not just one of them.

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April 20, 2017 2:38 PM

Yehuda

It’s your blog, and write what you want.

Just allow me to point out that your responses are emotional and consist mostly of insults and name calling. In just one comment: “stupid”; “lie”; “racist”; “offensive”; “hasbamorons”;
This and the moderation are ways of shutting me up. This is what the hard left does. Anybody not in congruence with your position is all of the above and more.

You don’t know what I do or don’t care about, and even if I would tell you, you wouldn’t believe me anyhow.

In order to not be a troll I will respect your rules and refrain from further comment on this thread.

your responses are emotional and consist mostly of insults and name calling.

Not at all. My reply contained hundreds of words which constituted argument supported by facts. Your statements were racist and I pointed out specifically why they were. As for emotion, you bet. Insulting, stupid arguments like yours arouse emotion.

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April 20, 2017 11:55 PM

Seamus

The Tatour trial is a farce. She should have been arrested and questioned, but not prosecuted.

“Because the Palestinian will-to-resist is inexhaustible.”

And Jewish-Israeli fecundity seems inexhaustible. More healthy babies are being birthed, and housing construction for the next generation grows steadily. The next generation of young people are Israelis and aren’t moving, or being moved, and time soon.

“They will devise a new tactic you haven’t conceived of. Till one day they devise the tactic that does turn the tide and they win.”

Israel is growing bigger and stronger everyday as her neighbors weaken.

The Palestinians will win when they make a peace deal (however unlikely that is).

Jewish-Israeli fecundity seems inexhaustible. More healthy babies are being birthed, and housing construction for the next generation grows steadily. The next generation of young people are Israelis and aren’t moving, or being moved, and time soon.

That’s one of the stupidest rationale for ethnic cleansing I’ve ever heard. We will win because we will produce more babies than you do?? That’s your argument? Sorry bud, but you’re wrong on several counts. UNless you physically expel Palestinians (a distinct possibility) you cannot overwhelm Palestinian population growth because they produce at a similar level to Israeli Jews.

Second & much more importantly, the birth rate doesn’t trump justice. There is no way babies can overwhelm a moral claim or render it moot. The very idea that you see an Israeli Jewish baby as a tool in suppressing Palestinians is foul.

Israel is growing weaker & more feeble by the day. The Israelis will win when they are forced to make a peace deal. It will happen & you will be dragged screaming & kicking to the peace table. The rest of us will look on & say “We told you so.”

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April 20, 2017 2:45 PM

Seamus

I have not, and never will support ethnic cleansing. Why you need this ‘projection’, is anyone’s guess.

I support the ‘2 State solution’, but I believe that one party’s dogmatic adherence to Islam prevents that ‘2 State solution’ from taking place.

Just like Bibi supports, or supported, the 2 state solution. That means absolutely nothing. You support nothing. You can say you support anything, but it doesn’t mean jack. Unless you are prepared to return to 1967 borders, immediate recognition of Palestine, withdrawal from all settlements beyond 67 borders, and shared Jerusalem–then you support nothing. TO say otherwise means you’re either deluding yourself or lying. At any rate, your claim means absolutely nothing.

It’s akin to saying I support the “2 billionaire solution.” I support that the two of us should be billionaires. There’s only one problem. Neither one of us has the means (or even the will) to become billionaires (that is, unless you already are a billionaire or on your way to being one). So that renders my scheme moot.

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April 20, 2017 11:58 PM

Seamus

“withdrawal from all settlements beyond 67 borders..”

I support an equitable distribution of the land based on the 1967 borders and the division of Jerusalem.

Richard. You’re all about the I/P conflict, so maybe you can edify.

What was the date that it became illegal, under international law, for individual Jews to move to and settle in Judea and Samaria?

@Seamus Ignoramus: there is only one “equitable distribution of land” as agreed under international law & consensus; return of conquered territory & evacuation of settlements built on conquered territory.

Since you don’t accept this you don’t support a 2 state solution.

Israeli settlers don’t make individual choices to be settlers. It is a national enterprise, a national ‘vision,’ funded generously by billions in subsidies from the national coffers. Hence all settlements violate the Geneva Conventions.

You’re an idiot to claim West Bank roads aren’t segregated. This has been established fact reported in hundreds of media stories & NGO reports for years. You can’t just make it up as you go buddy. Do that again & you’ll be history. And read the comment rules closely. You make a claim, you offer evidence to support it. You make a claim & don’t do that, you’re a bullshitter. They don’t last long here.

I’m disappointed in the quality of hasbarists they’re sending our way lately. Is there any way to upgrade?

Seamus, you mean without stealing land, without roads for Jewish use only, without walking around heavily armed and bossing around the locals, and under Palestinian jurisdiction? In other word, not as occupiers but as normal immigrants?

Or WHAT do you mean (if anything)?

Your ‘question’ as it stands now is totally meaningless, and you know it.

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April 21, 2017 7:40 AM

Ariel Shalom

@Elisabeth – “without roads for Jewish use only”

Another leftists urban legend. All roads outside settlements are open to anyone’s use.

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April 21, 2017 12:33 PM

Seamus

@Elisabeth @Richard

“Seamus, you mean without stealing land, without roads for Jewish use only, without walking around heavily armed and bossing around the locals, and under Palestinian jurisdiction?”

Stealing land and bossing around locals isn’t a violation of international law. Murder isn’t even a violation of international law.
Israel’s active facilitation of settlement in occupied territory is illegal under international law. Protecting settlers who have a right to settle in Judea and Samaria is not illegal.

Under the San Remo Treaty, the British Mandate of Palestine and UN Resolution 80, individual Jews have the right to settle in Judea and Samaria, and even if they steal land or lord over the locals, these conducts are not illegal under international law.

Stealing land and bossing around locals isn’t a violation of international law.

Of course it is. It’s a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions–that is, international law. The West Bank is occupied territory under international law and no Israelis have any right to settle there. Period.

Oh please stop with the San Remo Treaty. The Treaty of Ghent says I own half of Belgium. The Treaty of Ishkabibel says I’m entitled to membership in Mar a Lago. Good luck getting it! The next time you raise that red herring you’ll get the boot. Sam Remo is the oldest hasbara trick in the book. No one’s used it here in almost 10 yrs. You’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel aren’t ya??!

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April 22, 2017 2:56 AM

Elisabeth

Seamus, your greed wil result in you ending empty handed. Murder and stealing, although not illegal according to you, are not tactics that will do you any good in the long run. Grow up. The stuff you are trying to sell is immature nonsense.

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April 22, 2017 4:04 AM

Seamus

San Remo, as ratified by the League of Nations, is as much International Law, as is the Geneva Conventions.

@ Seamus: You’re an idiot, plain & simple. THe League of Nations doesn’t exist. San Remo doesn’t exist–except as a town in Italy. No one except Israeli hasbarists refer to San Remo.

Your delusions are apt parallels to those of Israel’s own rightist leaders. Delusions lead to heartbreak…or worse.

Mention San Remo again & you’ll be moderated.

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April 23, 2017 3:31 AM

Strelnikov

The Dareen Tatour story exemplifies the truth, which is that Israel is an incompetent bungling apartheid police state, when even Facebook poetry is grounds for house arrest. The Shin Bet reminds me of the gormless secret police officer in the bar at the beginning of The Good Soldier Schweik, arresting people because the flies have left flecks on the painting of the Emperor. That empire was Austria-Hungary, and World War One drove it to collapse. In other words, the Israeli situation is an unstable one and it is doomed in the long run.

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